Currently, in the medical, surgical and health-related technology, a need has developed for the high-speed and efficient packaging of sutures attached to a surgical needle. This includes sutures swaged or similarly fastened thereto, in which such combined needle and suture is generally referred to as armed suture. This need has become increasingly important as the cost of sterile packaging for the armed suture approaches the cost of the armed suture itself.
Further, the rising demand of users for such combined surgical needles and attached sutures, and various diverse types of inexpensively manufactured suture packages for the containment of needles and attached sutures has created a need for the automatic packaging of armed sutures.